Ask Us Anything About The PlayStation 4

News editor Mike Futter and I are in New York for the PlayStation 4 launch event, where we received our review hardware. Do you have any questions about the hardware? Fire away. We can't promise that we'll be able to answer everything, but we'll certainly try our best.

We can give you impressions of the games that we've seen, tell you about the camera's functionality (such as facial recognition), talk about the controller – just about everything but give you review scores. For instance, we can say that the system takes 31 seconds to boot up.

Fire away. We'll keep an eye on the comments and will try to update the story as quickly as we can.

We've had lots of questions about features (including playing online, full featured camera support, and more) that will be activated with the 1.5 firmware patch. It is not live yet, and might not be until as late as Wednesday morning. We'll answer what we can. ^MF

Have you had a chance to see the new PlayStation Store? Is it fast and efficient like how it was on the PS3 before the new one? - Kybaraian

We saw the PlayStation Store this morning and it looks very similar to the current PS3 store. The good news is that it's VERY fast. ^MF

Is the touchpad used in any interesting ways regarding the UI? - Braydo

Nope. The touchpad doesn't have any UI functions yet. ^MF

Have you seen anything with the terms of service? Read somewhere that
for the EU you have to get permission from Sony before you can re-sell
your games, and I believe it also stated about the PS4 having DRM. - mikesorrell

The TOS item #7 picture that has been circulating that references seeking permission to resell your games is not reflected in the current US terms of use. ^MF

As far as allowing the console to download games while you are away from
it, is that available at launch? Can you set specific times where you
want updates and games to download or does it download as it's
available?- Braydo

When you initiate a download from PC or the companion app, it will turn on the PS4 and start downloading, but only if your PS4 is configured for that. You cannot choose a specific download time as you can on the PS3. ^MF

If either of you actually were fans of the Dualshock 3, would you say then as a fan of that controller that either of you prefer or disapprove of the new controller? Because I always favored it over the 360 controller, with only keyboard and mouse being better IMO. I'm worried it's too much like the 360 now. - Paradigmthefallen

Neither Mike nor I are huge DualShock 3 fans, but we're both completely impressed by the DualShock 4. The triggers feel great, the analog-stick placement has been tweaked just a bit (no more touching thumbs!), and it fits better in hand overall. It feels like its own thing; I wouldn't worry about it feeling too close to the 360 controller if that's your concern. ^JC

How fast are the install times? This has been eating away at me for the
past few weeks when I discovered the large installs sizes next gen has.
Any insight would be appreciative! Thanks! - Ketsuyame

It takes about 10 seconds or so to get into the game (depends on the game, of course), and then everything else installs in the background. ^MF

Does it take forever to go back to the dashboard to check what trophies you have for a game or respond to a message? - SmileyofChaos

Going back and forth to the PlayStation Dynamic Menu and a game is extremely fast. I would go so far as to say "instantaneous." ^MF

They already said it does not play MP3. What other formats DOES it play?
Wav? avi? wmv? ogg? aac? flac? mkv? etc.... Also they said no
external drives. What about USB drives? - Travis Cooley

We won't be able to test these yet, but I can tell you from testing a USB drive just now that it doesn't show up anywhere that we can see. Unless that gets patched in later, USB drives for saves are out. We found the location for moving saves to the cloud AND to USB drives. It was a bit hidden, but it appears that you CAN use USB drives to store save files. ^MF

Any impressions on the voice commands with the system at the moment? - sexyfish

That will be added in patch 1.5, which should be live no later than Wednesday morning. ^MF

Are you allowed to change your username at all.- SunniDee22

Not if you want to keep your friends and trophies. ^MF

Is there any indication of PSHome on the system at this point? I would
find it odd if SCEA/SCUK were to drop the program considering several
companies were founded for it. There was indication in Feb. after the
reveal; Home recieved an update that moved it to the cloud servers on
the following day. - docH1987

It hasn't been mentioned once since we arrived. ^MF

Any word on if Sony is considering external HDD support in the immediate future via a system update?- D. Brandon Thomas

No confirmation yet, but following response from the community, I think Sony has said they are considering it. ^MF

Can you play your downloaded game library (PS1, PS2, PS3 games) or does that come at a later time? - Sam7pointo

No. Until the Gaikai streaming service is up and running, the PS4 is not backward compatible. ^MF

Will you be able to play free to play games even if you don't have playstation plus? - lllJoJohnlll

Yes! Free-to-play games are in front of the PS+ paywall. ^MF

Does the PS4 have the same functionality as the Xbox 360 in terms of being able to play your own music during games? - Sipdeenfipdy

Right now, no. Sony may be implementing MP3 support post-launch. If so, we might see that feature added, also. ^MF

How precise is the keyboard manipulation with the Dualshock 4 cursor manipulation? - Sipdeenfipdy

It's about the same as a Wii Remote. It doesn't snap to letters, but it is a little sticky. ^MF

At launch Will the system be able to surf the web like the ps3 or did
Sony drop that feature? Also does every game you buy, retail or
download, have to be installed to the console to play it?- mrcole13

Yes. The PS4 has a web browser. Also, every game must be installed to the console. ^MF

Any word on the use of current Headsets that use Bluetooth for chat? I really wanna use my Ear forceTangos! - Ernie

Legacy bluetooth headsets will not work on PlayStation 4. ^MF

Will you be able to install a larger hard drive - thejross

Yes. No thicker than 9.5mm and must be larger than 160GB. ^MF

Can you save recorded gameplay to the Hard-Drive? Like, if I click the
SHARE button and want to save some gameplay to my Hard-Drive, can I? - Injustice

Yes. ^MF

What's the first thing you see when you boot up the system, and where in the UI does it put you? - deaddug33

The first thing you see is a safety message. The PS4 drops you into the "What's New" section, which includes your activities and those of your friends.^MF

Update 1.5 is now live, and we're taking more of your questions!

How is the PS4 Camera is it like the XboxOne Connect. What is the
purpose to even get the PS4 Camera do you have to have Move controllers
too? What games will be using the Camera? - ThunderCrushR

The PS4 camera is a bit like Kinect in that it can be used to sign a user in and it responds to voice commands. You do not need to use a Move controller with it. Just Dance 2014 uses it (without Move Controllers), War Thunder will support head tracking, and PlayRoom requires it. It works well, and it's long-term value is predicated on developer implementation. ^MF

Is connecting your console to the internet like the 360 where it just
shows your network and all you have to do is click on it? Or is it the
complicated method of connecting that was on ps3?- shadowblade104

It's a very simple process to connect to the internet. It's streamlined from the PS3 experience. ^MF

Have you heard the Dualshock 4's speaker used? If so, does it sound decent? Or is it low quality and tinny sounding? - John